


Missed Connections

by Boossuet



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: And other assorted holidays, Baking, Christmas, Flashbacks, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Mention of vague family members, Rollerblading Accident, Winnipeg, phone breaking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:22:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28293765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boossuet/pseuds/Boossuet
Summary: Adam couldn’t keep his eyes from following the short, dark-haired man making his way around the party, bouncing from group to group. His energy was palpable and Adam so badly wanted to be his friend.The man looked at him and winked.Okay, never mind. Adam wanted to be waaay more than friends.Or the one in which Adam Lowry is awkward, busy, and forgetful.
Relationships: Adam Lowry/Brandon Tanev
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	Missed Connections

**Author's Note:**

> Based on my favorite Christmas song, 'Christmas Wrapping' by The Waitresses.
> 
> Yes, I am incapable of not writing Adam Lowry and Brandon Tanev, even though it's a dead ship. Leave me be.

Adam Lowry sighed as he slammed his apartment door behind him. He fell face first onto his couch, not bothering to take off his coat or shoes. A snowflake melted in his hair and dripped slowly down his face. He groaned. Having to work a 6-to-3 shift on Christmas Eve was just the cherry on top of an already shit year. But hey, the store had given him a free one-person turkey. Good thing he wasn’t having any guests this year. 

Christmas was usually his favorite holiday, but this year had been so busy he hadn’t felt like celebrating. Was this what being a real adult was like? If so, he hated it. He had turned down all of his invites this year, deciding to simply give himself a break for the holidays. 

Adam could miss Christmas this year. 

He groaned again and hauled himself up to a seated position, finally pulling off his shoes and coat, throwing them into the corner. He heard something fall over but ignored it, plodding into the kitchen to start making his sad little turkey to go with his sad little tree and his quiet little Christmas. 

As Adam opened the fridge to search for the garlic he knew he had somewhere, one of the drawings his nephew had made for him fell, gliding back and forth before it landed halfway under the fridge. 

“Bah humbug,” Adam groaned as he picked it up. Then he noticed the polaroid that had been hiding behind it. 

It was a picture Mark had taken at the Christmas party the guys had dragged Adam to last year. He hadn’t wanted to go but then. Well then, he’d met that guy. Brent? Brady? Adam couldn’t remember if he’d ever actually gotten his name or if he had just gotten a kiss. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


_ Adam couldn’t keep his eyes from following the short, dark-haired man making his way around the party, bouncing from group to group. His energy was palpable and Adam so badly wanted to be his friend.  _

_ The man looked at him and winked. _

_ Okay, never mind. Adam wanted to be waaay more than friends.  _

_ He took a long swig of eggnog and when he looked up from his glass, the handsome stranger was in front of him. Adam smiled and was just about to introduce himself when suddenly Patrik came slamming into him, holding mistletoe. _

_ “Fucking mistletoe!” He shouted in Adam’s face, drunk off his ass.  _

_ The stranger laughed, still being all gorgeous and shit. “Well, now you have to kiss him.” _

_ Adam chuckled and pulled Patrik in for a kiss, hearing Mark’s camera go off above the music and laughter around him.  _

* * *

  
  


Adam smiled to himself at the memory and moved the polaroid out of its hiding place and onto the center of his fridge. It was too precious of a photo to hide behind a toddler’s scribbles. He felt lucky to have a wonderful photo of that man laughing, his dark eyes sparkling with joy and alcohol. Their kiss later in the evening hadn’t been bad either. 

But that was where his luck had run out. He’d given that guy his number, but Adam’s dumbass had put his phone number in wrong and only realized it the next morning, adding more regret to his already awful hangover. 

He sighed and started preparing the turkey for his lonesome Christmas dinner, but his missed connection continued to linger in his mind. The only gift Adam wanted this year was to finally complete this encounter. 

As he was putting his turkey into the oven, he remembered he had run into his stranger again, which really wasn’t fair. It was springtime and Adam had been rollerblading around the city. Caught up in the newness of everything, he hadn’t been looking where he was going at all and- 

* * *

  
  


_ BAM! _

_ Adam felt himself connect with something a few inches below him and then he was flailing backward, falling onto the concrete. He hit the ground hard, feeling all the air leave his lungs.  _

_ “Oh my god, I am so sorry!” Adam exclaimed, looking up to see who he had hit and the air suddenly left him again. There was the handsome stranger from the Christmas party also sprawled on his ass, rubbing his jaw.  _

_ His stranger waved it off. “Don’t worry about it. It’s fate bringing us together,” he teased, dark eyes just as sparkly and beautiful when Adam was sober.  _

_ Adam felt a blush begin to grow across his face. At least he could brush it off as embarrassment.  _

_ “I tried to call you, but the number was invalid,” his stranger continued, getting to his feet and offering Adam his hand. He took it, hauling himself back up on his rollerblades. He resisted the urge to rub his bruised ass, not needing any more embarrassment.  _ _   
  
_

_ “Yeah. Christmas me was a little too tipsy,” Adam replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.  _

_ The man smiled again. “Don’t worry about it. Here,” he held his phone out. “Shit!”  _

_ Adam looked down and saw the screen was shattered from their collusion. And right on time, Adam’s watch started beeping, reminding him that he was late for work.  _

_ Now he was blushing with embarrassment. He grabbed his bag off the ground and began fumbling through it. He found what he was looking for and quickly scratched his number onto the back of an old receipt.  _

_ “Here,” Adam said, pressing it into the man’s hands, “Call me when you get to a phone and I’ll pay for the damages.”  _

_ He tore away to get to work on time, not sparing a glance behind him. If he had, maybe he would have seen his stranger looking after him. _

* * *

  
  


Adam’s phone rang and reminded him that he had never actually fixed the phone. He felt terrible about that. He glanced down at his phone, barely seeing that it was Patrik before pressing the ignore call button. He had told all of his friends that he wasn’t doing any parties or secret Santas or any of that shit this year. He was too busy to add another thing to his plate. 

Back to the spring though. He would have understood if Brady (Brendan?) had never wanted to see him again after the big rollerblading incident. The universe obviously had other plans though, because, in July, he had gotten a call from a number he hadn’t recognized. 

It was him, his handsome stranger that was still, somehow, a missed connection. He had invited Adam to come join him and some friends to go boating, but this was the day after Adam had forgotten to wear sunscreen and gotten sunburnt to hell in his backyard. It hurt to move and he most definitely didn’t want his first proper encounter with his crush to be while he resembled a lobster. 

So he had politely refused but saved the number under some B name. 

Adam flopped back onto his couch, flicking on the TV and turning on a random Christmas movie. He needed a distraction that didn’t have brown eyes, a kind smile, and no name. Adam made it halfway through the movie before a dark-eyed, high energy brunette character popped up in the film, sending Adam’s thoughts straight back to his stranger. 

In September, Adam had finally found a free afternoon and called the stranger to invite him for lunch. Then, of course, A ended up having to cover Blake’s shift for him (okay, he didn’t  _ have  _ to, but he owed Blake for everything he had done for him) and,  _ of course,  _ his phone had decided to fall into the sink and fry itself that day. And of course, it had been on a Sunday, when nothing was open. 

Needless to say, Adam lost all of his contacts and ended up unintentionally standing the stranger up. Again. 

Adam turned the movie off, unable to focus. Maybe a little baking would clear his head. Was this why he never spent Christmas Eve alone? Because it made him mopey and sad, reflecting on things that hadn’t been? Adam found his thoughts drifting back to his stranger again as he pulled out his mixer. 

Later in the fall, he’d gotten a call from the man. A Halloween party, and this time Adam was actually free and not sunburnt. He turned down the invite to Nikolaj’s annual party and bought himself whatever costume was still left at the store. Unfortunately, it was not the most attractive thing in the world. 

* * *

  
  


_ Adam stood outside his apartment building, feeling ridiculous in the too-small shark costume he had somehow shoved his large body into. Should he have just come up with something himself, well aware that most costumes didn’t fit his height? Yes, but he’d been much too busy for that. _

_ He informed the third group of trick-or-treaters that he didn’t have any candy, then checked his phone again anxiously. Brendan (Brody?) was supposed to have picked him up two hours ago. Adam sighed and sat down on the curb, burying his head in his hands with frustration.  _

_ Sure, this was just karma for standing Brody up for lunch that time, but that didn’t make it any better. Every time he had a chance to see this guy, hang out with him, and finally, learn his name, the universe tore it away from him.  _

_ He sat out there for another hour before he gave up and went to bed. When Adam woke up in the morning, he saw a text from Brody: _

Hey, so sorry about tonight! My car broke down and my phone was dead :( Lunch next week?

_ Adam was mid-reply when a knock had come on his door, some package or maybe his brother making a surprise visit? Whatever it was, it distracted him and he forgot to hit send on his ‘ _ FUCK YEAH _!’.  _

* * *

  
  


Now, it was Christmas Eve again, an entire goddamn year after Adam had hit it off with this dude and he still didn’t know his fucking name. He sighed and reached into his cabinet to pull out the bag of sugar he kept in there and found… nothing. He hung his head in defeat, letting out a long and dramatic sigh into the silence of his apartment. 

“Damn it.”

It was sad enough to spend Christmas alone, but Christmas alone with no cookies? That was a tragedy Adam wouldn’t allow to happen. He grabbed his boots and bundled up again, ready to face the Winnipeg cold as he hurried to the closest all-night grocery store. 

He grabbed his sugar and was waiting in line when, what to his wandering eye should appear, but the man he’d been dancing around all year. Adam’s face lit up and he tapped the shorter man on the shoulder. “Hey, Brody!”

The man turned around, a confused look on his face. “Oh my god,” he said, a grin spreading across his face, “Aidan, you think my name is Brody?”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute, my name isn’t Aidan,” Adam said, “It’s Adam. Adam Lowry.”

“Tanev. Brandon Tanev” said the man before bursting into laughter. 

His laughter was as infectious as his energy and Adam couldn’t help but join him.

“I’m spending this Christmas alone,” Brandon said, wiping tears from his eyes after their laughter had died down. “This year has been incredibly hectic and a bitch needs a break.”

“You’re kidding. I’m doing the same thing,” Adam said, shifting the bag of sugar he was holding from one hand to the other. “And let me guess, you’re out this late buying sugar too?”

Brandon’s smile fell. “How’d you know?” he said seriously, placing his sugar on the belt for the cashier. 

_ Adam had fucked it. He had spent a year chasing his stranger and then he’d fucked it all up with a lucky guess. Oh my god, he was gonna go home and curl up in bed and just- _

Then he noticed the teasing glint in Brandon’s brown eyes, even prettier than Adam remembered, and they both started laughing.

They laughed and joked the whole way through check-out and to the door. Adam lingered for a moment. He didn’t want to let this go again, but he had a turkey currently in his oven and he’d left all the lights on and-

He felt Brandon’s fingers wrap gently around his wrist and Adam looked down into warm, brown eyes staring expectantly up at him. Adam gave him a confused look, earning him an eye roll in return. “Are you going to kiss me or not?” Brandon asked. 

Fuck it, Adam’s apartment could burn to the ground for all he cared. He wasn’t going to lose Brandon again. 

“Do you want to come back to my place? I have some mistletoe and cookies that won’t bake themselves,” Brandon asked when they had pulled away from each other. 

The snowflakes in Brandon’s hair matched the sparkle in his eyes, taking Adam’s breath away like a bad rollerblade fall. Adam nodded, still dazed from his sudden good fortune. 

“Thank god,” Brandon replied, sliding his hand gently into Adam’s. “I wasn’t going to spend another year chasing you, no matter how handsome you are.”

Adam grinned the whole way to Brandon’s apartment. 

He couldn’t miss Christmas this year. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos appreciated! 
> 
> Follow me on Twitter @goalferal for gay screaming and NHL hate.


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